Wink walked out onto the stone balcony and was instantly greeted by the caress of the cool night air and the earthy smell of burning wood. She pulled her cloak tightly around her in an effort to buttress herself from the unexpected chill and leaned over the stone railing to look down at the city below. Shadowy, flickering cerise flames that dotted the Balic cityscape and the distant shouts and cries and sounds of distant battles served as a stark reminder that, despite their progress these past few weeks, their fight was yet done. After the improbable one-two punch of the fall of the Thir-king and their dark Goddess on the same day, the Red Templars of Balic had gone to ground and made it clear they would not capitulate without a fight, waging suicidal assaults upon the populace of the Red City every night since the fall of their rulers. But powerful as they were, they were no match for the sheer numbers of civilians who, when freed from the yoke of tyranny at long last were more than willing to earn their freedom with the tip of their blade or die trying.
Wink had watched as the Saviors of Raam had disappeared through that glowing portal a fortnight ago, walking stoically towards certain death to wage war upon the very Queen of Dragons herself. And somehow, despite all odds and defying belief, they had seemingly prevailed, though the effort had cost them their lives in the process. That night, the entirety of the stars in the night sky, the total Constellation of the Dragon Queen that had dominated the darkness for millennia, had fallen from the heavens in a deluge of glowing fire, leaving the cold and lonely moon as the sole guardian of the heavens of the now empty night. A journey that had begun on the Day of the Two Dawns had ended on the Night the Stars Fell Like Rain.
Wink turned her attention from the city below to look up at the night sky and she could just make out the ever-so-faint twinkling of the new constellations painted in dim specks of light upon the black nocturnal canvas. On the second night after Tiamat’s fall, if one stared intently up at the darkness you could just make out the barest pinpoints of light in the sky, and each night thereafter they grew a little brighter and a little surer of their placement among the heavens, a celestial testament to the sacrifice and ascendence made by the Saviors of Raa…well, the Saviors of the World now, Wink supposed.
Though the constellations were brand new their meaning was immediately clear to the world below and somehow everyone had instantly agreed upon their names. The first pattern to appear was one comprised of twenty-one stars shining faintly but insolently in the darkness, arranged in a simple form resembling a stick figure with its arms akimbo. As soon as Wink had seen this pattern, she knew this to be the constellation of Oni the Monk, the first priest of the New Dawn manifesting as one of the dolls that he had manufactured and distributed to the children of the land while he yet trod upon it – a simple act of kindness and utter defiance in the face of the world living under the tyranny, and one that served as a reminder that rebellion can be waged in even the humblest of gestures.
Then there was the constellation of Arnia, the Sword Maiden, heroically positioned with her feet upon the firmament and Enduval, her mighty sword, held high above her head, its tip illuminated by the brightest star in the night sky. This star's position was strong and stable in the darkness and it called out to travelers and sailors to use it as a celestial guide, a heavenly promise that her sword would show them the way, both literally and figuratively.
Next followed the constellation of Ixen, the Golden Serpent, some of whose stars were always visible in the sky and others always hidden beneath the plane of the earth, regardless of where you stood upon the world, a heavenly testament to his journey from the sewers beneath Raam to the celestial skies above. A man forced to hide in darkness because his mere skin was heresy and an affront to the Dark Queen, yet he now defiantly watched over the earth in plain view of all.
The pattern of stars attributed to David were a rousing, chaotic kaleidoscope of stars that spiraled like a spider’s web into the night sky with a perfect circle of thirteen reddish stars at their hub, and these thirteen were also barely visible during the day. Immediately after their appearance in the heavens the astromancers of the realm had gone to work and quickly calculated that when the sun was highest in the sky during the summer solstice, these thirteen stars would perfectly ring around that flaming orb if you stood upon the Pyramid of Ra where the Saviors had hatched their rebellion. This fact indicated that there was a semblance of order amid the seemingly random chaos of the arrangement of the stars and hinted that this inscrutable pattern of stars might hold even more secrets within. This constellation dominated the attention of a small subset of the world below, who began fixating and studying it with rapt attention, intent on deciphering the hidden clues contained in the intricate patterns, sure that powerful mysteries were encoded within. Lady Meshah Gardiward had shown up in Balic on that first night after the starfall, having seen a portentous vision upon the scales of a serpent, and had immediately announced her intention of putting her house’s fantastic wealth into constructing a mighty tower on the outskirts of the city for the study of this constellation in honor of her former house mage.
Wink braved a glance to the western part of the sky towards the constellation she avoided looking at the most, a pattern of stars attributed to Vashir, the only member of the Redeemers that she was glad had perished on that fateful day. The man had been a Templar in life and had visited untold suffering upon the people of Balic during time upon the world, but he had sacrificed all in the end to bring about change – Wink knew that she knew that she should forgive him, and perhaps one day she even would allow herself to. His constellation seemed to fluctuate, with some stars brighter on some nights than others, and then these would switch places on the following night. On one night, he was the Winged Templar and on others he was The Serpent Who Walked Like a Man. This alternating pattern served as a fitting testament to the duality of his life, Wink supposed. One could be both a villain and a hero, depending upon the choices made in life, and these choices were not set in stone, and his story might perhaps serve as a parable that redemption might reside in even the vilest form.
There were other constellations forming as well, faint and dull as if hesitant to stake their claim upon the night, reluctant to steal the celestial thunder from those whose sacrifice made their mere presence possible at all. They were living in a time of unparalleled change and the possibilities for growth and goodness were boundless for the first time in generations, and Wink was glad she was here for it.
A sound from behind her announced Niki’s return and she turned and greeted him with a smile. He looked disheveled and his face and arms were coated with a patina of dried blood and ash. The young lord looked like he had aged ten years in the span of two weeks, as he had led the charge in rooting out the Red Templars and bringing them to final justice for their crimes. He returned her smile with one of his own, but one tinged with fatigue and pain, as he unbuckled his sword belt and tossed the blade onto a nearby couch before collapsing in a heap next to it to begin tugging off his boots.
Wink hurried to help him, grabbing the dusty leather and pulling his foot free.
“How did it go?” she asked, staring into his weary eyes.
“Toad thinks he found Thravian’s nest, but he is in there with a score of red cloaks. We took two others out tonight, but it cost us…” his voice trailed off for a moment. “It cost us,” he concluded simply, unwilling to put a numerical tally on the losses.
Wink could see the pain in his eyes at the memory. “So what is the plan?” she asked softly, tugging his other boot off before plopping down next to him on the couch.
Niki met her gaze for a moment before melting into her in equal parts comfort and exhaustion, as he felt sleep’s persistent assault upon his war-weary body and he knew this was a battle he was soon to lose. He tried to formulate an answer as he thought about the enormity of the task ahead. Fighting one Templar was hard enough, twenty a seemingly insurmountable task, say nothing of the Grand Inquisitor at their head whose might was said to nearly rival that of the Thir-King himself. That bordered on impossible.
Sleep redoubled its assault and this time he allowed himself to surrender to it, allowing himself one last thought as he drifted off. They had beat the Red King, and the Saviors had somehow found the means to beat an actual Goddess, so now anything actually seemed like it might be possible, even the impossible.
“We will bring this whole city down on their fucking heads if we have to.” Niki wasn’t sure if he said it aloud in answer to her question or just thought it to himself before he drifted off, but he sure as hell meant it.